I am heartbroken - data loss...

[Chimney Sweep]

I just lost some of my best upcoming work. I don't know how, but a whole folder is just GONE from my thumb drive, and it looks like other recent works are gone as well. I'm slow as a glacier anyway, so this was YEARS of work.

DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!

The first chapter was done, too. I was trying to finish chapter 2 before I dropped 1.

Oh, I'm gonna go cry now...

 

[RejectReality]

I can't say it enough. Back up, back up, back up.

I have automatic backup turned on in Wordperfect, so whatever I'm working on at the moment is regularly updated in the event of a power outage or some other sudden event. I save regularly, but when you're on a roll, the power blinking after typing four or five hundred words can be a real tear-jerker. Having the backup salvage much of that is a great relief.

Whenever I send something out to be edited, I maintain the email exchange so there's a backup copy of the document there.

I periodically back up my work to an external drive. I also have an automated backup service that constantly updates everything in my documents folders.

I had to endure a massive data loss, and that's what prompted me to go into obsessive redundancy. There were irreplaceable images lost in that. I will not let that happen again.

 

[jsmiam]

@OP, search for “recuva” and download the free version from ccleaner.c0m, same people as ccleaner. The product and also the company both have good reputations, and it has a good balance between power and ease of use.

File recovery isn’t guaranteed, but the sooner you try the better. And of course, DON’T download and install the program to the same usb, that may overwrite some of the spots of the usb storage of the files you are hoping to try to restore. The less touching (writing/updating) on the usb the better, until whatever can be recovered is recovered. Good luck!

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

I’m so sorry this happened to you!

I know it doesn’t help recover your date, but going forward, perhaps consider writing on and/or saving directly to a drive. I use Google Drive for my stories but know lots of writers like OneDrive and other platforms.

 

[NotWise]

Oh, I'm gonna go cry now...

I hope you have a nice,thick towel to cry into.

The longest bit I've ever written -- a really epic, wandering thing -- I lost in a disk crash.

It had it's good points and its bad points, and I'll never be able to recover it. What I could do was move on. Several of my stories on Lit contain concepts from the lost story, and there might be a few more coming. I like them, and so do the readers.

Sometimes a loss is really an opportunity. You just need to look for it.

 

[SimonDoom]

I feel for you. I've lost stories in the past with computer crashes. I'm pretty good about backing things up regularly now to avoid that, but I know how it feels. Really sorry.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I'vw used Recuva before. I also not only save to the laptop, but a thumb drive and portable hd. Sometimes msword doesn't autosave, I'd rather have multiple saves, than one failure.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I'vw used Recuva before. I also not only save to the laptop, but a thumb drive and portable hd. Sometimes msword doesn't autosave, I'd rather have multiple saves, than one failure.

I’ve moved to Google docs. It has issues, but for just getting words on a page, it works.

 

[Handley_Page]

I’ve moved to Google docs. It has issues, but for just getting words on a page, it works.

If all you want is words on a page and do not care how it looks much,
Google docs is not bad.

I suggest you back up to a DVD or a CD every now & again.
Or maybe a second thumb drive ?

PS; have you 'cleaned up' that thumb drive at all ?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have nothing to offer but sympathy. That really sucks.

 

[R. Richard]

I can't say it enough. Back up, back up, back up.

Tell it like it is!

 

[Bramblethorn]

One of my formative childhood memories was being paid to help retype my babysitter's PhD thesis from printout after she lost the files due to a hard drive crash. Ever since, I've been paranoid about backups.

If at all possible, it's worth having an automated backup solution that doesn't rely on remembering to run it.

Good luck with file recovery, hope you can get your work back. If not, console yourself with the knowledge that it happened to Hemingway too.

 

[gordo12]

That sucks to lose that much. File recovery might work though.

I have all mine saved on a thumb. but having lost thumbs before and had computers fail on me without about 1 seconds notice I use DropBox. Every time I do a update to a story in progress I save a copy of it to the dropbox app on my desktop and it automatically updates the file in DropBox. That way even if the thumb dies I won't lose anything more than a few lines of text. Something I can easily replace. And it's free.

Good luck.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I’ve moved to Google docs. It has issues, but for just getting words on a page, it works.

Second that. Plus it lets you write at random times on your smartphone.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I just lost some of my best upcoming work. I don't know how, but a whole folder is just GONE from my thumb drive, and it looks like other recent works are gone as well. I'm slow as a glacier anyway, so this was YEARS of work.

DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!

The first chapter was done, too. I was trying to finish chapter 2 before I dropped 1.

Oh, I'm gonna go cry now...

This truly sucks but take heart that you are in good company. John Ringo, a NYT bestselling SF author lost over 30K on the next book in the Troy Rising series. He was so bummed he has not finished it yet. (There are other reasons but that is one of them)

 

[ChloeTzang]

This truly sucks but take heart that you are in good company. John Ringo, a NYT bestselling SF author lost over 30K on the next book in the Troy Rising series. He was so bummed he has not finished it yet. (There are other reasons but that is one of them)

Tell him I’m waiting on that next one. If he doesn’t get it out, I’ll write it for him, but with tentacles...

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

Tell him I’m waiting on that next one. If he doesn’t get it out, I’ll write it for him, but with tentacles...

He has been really blocked for a while now. He has been doing BTR with Mike Massa, and the Embers and Gunpowder series with Kasy Ezell and Chris Smith. Mad Mike Just announced that they are collaborating on a novel detailing the adventures of the the King of FlorCubaTampa for the BTR series.